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Enough Kerouac cachet for Jack cache in Lowell?

By Grant Welker, gwelker@lowellsun.com

Updated:
07/20/2014 06:38:39 AM EDT

LOWELL -- Salinas, Calif., has a museum for its hometown literary icon, John Steinbeck. Asheville, N.C., has a museum in the home Victorian writer Thomas Wolfe lived in. The Northern California town of Glen Ellen has Jack London State Historic Park, complete with the writer's old cottage.

Closer to home, Concord embraces its literary history with Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and Henry David Thoreau, and it has a tourist destination for each.

Lowell's own Jack Kerouac even has a city alley named after him in San Francisco, and a museum in the city dedicated to the Beat Generation uses Kerouac's name right in its website's address -- www.kerouac.com.

Lowell does have a small park with a memorial on Bridge Street dedicated to Kerouac, and has a walking tour organized by the National Park Service, but it doesn't have a permanent center -- a museum, library or open-to-the-public childhood home -- dedicated to the writer known for his works like "On the Road" and "Big Sur."

Could Lowell support a Kerouac museum, or should it?

"Kerouac is a draw," said Steve Edington, a member of the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Committee for more than 20 years. "People come from all over the world and expect some kind of Kerouac presence."

Edington said last week he doesn't want to point fingers at anyone for the city failing to have a center dedicated to one of its most famous residents.

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He credited a guided walking tour conducted by city resident Roger Brunelle for the Lowell National Historical Park that includes, among others, the Kerouac Commemorative on Bridge Street; the former Nicky's Bar on Gorham Street, which he frequented; and the Working People Exhibit in the Mogan Cultural Center, which has Kerouac artifacts including a typewriter and backpack.

"Could Lowell do better than this somehow?" Edington asked.

Other cities have made tourist draws out of their hometown authors.

Steinbeck, famous for his book "Of Mice and Men," is the namesake for the main public library branch in Salinas, Calif., a city of about 160,000. Salinas also has the National Steinbeck Center, which opened in 1998 and attracts about 30,000 visitors a year.

It is the largest museum in North America that is dedicated to a single author, said Marcos Cabrera, the museum's curator of marketing and community engagement. "We're really proud of that fact."

The National Steinbeck Center has an exhibit on Steinbeck's childhood, another on his book "East of Eden," and another that includes bunks modeled after those the main characters in "Of Mice and Men," George and Lennie, would have used.

Financial support for the museum was greatly helped by redevelopment funds dispersed after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Cabrera said.

"It was about four decades in the making," he said of the museum, which he added was established despite Steinbeck's "complicated relationship" with the city.

Success has still been a challenge. Original estimates said 100,000 would visit the museum annually, but the Steinbeck Center has been able to attract only one-third of that. Struggling with lease payments, the museum is hoping the state may forgive its loans or might partner with a college that could help keep it operating, Cabrera said.

"We've had our ups and downs here, for sure," he said. "None of this has come easy."

In Glen Ellen, Calif., the former home of Jack London, known for "Call of the Wild" and other novels, is now part of a 1,400-acre state park. The park was created in 1959 when London's nephew gave 39 acres to the state. California later bought more land from London's heirs.

In 2011, it became the first California state park to be operated by a nonprofit organization when taken over by the Valley of the Moon Natural History Association. Last year, it got an estimated 90,000 visitors, a number that has increased dramatically in recent years as the park has worked to raise its profile, said Tjiska Van Wyk, the museum's executive director.

"I think he's an icon for Sonoma Valley," Van Wyk said of London. "He said he traveled across the world but found this the most beautiful place."

The park recently restored the cottage London wrote many of his novels to look just like it originally did. It is one of several buildings on the site, which are joined by a few miles worth of walking trails. About one-third of visitors go for the historical significance, Van Wyk said.

Lowell has occasionally talked about a Kerouac museum of some kind, but the ideas have never gotten far off the ground.

"It's an objective that's been discussed on and off for a number of years," said Paul Marion, who edited some of Kerouac's early writings after the author's death and helped with a recent Kerouac exhibit.

Lowell's celebration of Kerouac is more events focused, such as Lowell Celebrates Kerouac, those who have been involved with the author said.

"When you start talking about a facility, it's a tough undertaking," Marion said.

"There have been some attempts, some fits and starts, but it's never really taken hold," Edington said.

A two-family house on Lupine Road in Centralville right near the Dracut line where Kerouac grew up includes a plaque on the front porch marking it as Kerouac's birthplace. But the location is hard to reach and is in the middle of a densely-built neighborhood that would make turning it into some kind of museum prohibitive, Edington said.

But Lowell's close association with the late author should bring demand for some type of full-time center, he said.

"I'd say there's as much Lowell in Kerouac's writing as there is the Salinas Valley in Steinbeck's work," Edington said.

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